Vann’s to Close Stores in Missoula and Hamilton

Vann's, Incorporated is closing their stores in Missoula and Hamilton and will be moving their headquarters to Bozeman.

"We will be shutting down and moving the Hamilton and Missoula locations because we lost our lease," said Vann's CEO Gregg Regelbrugge on Monday, April 8. "We also lost our lease on the Kalispell location, but we are trying to find a temporary space to put the Kalispell location while we're finding something permanent."

Regelbrugge indicates that they've been searching through Missoula for a new location, but nothing has worked out so far.

"We've been looking out on North Reserve to try to find some place to move the space to," said Regglebrugge. "We were hoping to negotiate with Peter Vann on the three buildings he was renting us. In January he raised our rent on all three of them by 17 percent so we were just told that, basically we had to buy all three buildings or move out. We had thought that we would be able to reach a compromise, but being told that we had to make a written offer to buy all buildings, in locations we didn't believe were good retail locations, just didn't work.

The jobs of 10 to 15 employees are at stake. Regglebrugge says employees have been offered positions at other locations, but is unsure how many, if any, will be willing to make a move for the company.

Regglebrugge says it is possible that Vann's will have to purchase land and build a new retail location in Missoula from the ground up. So far, no suitable location has been found.

The leases expire on midnight June 30, until then, Vann's will be hosting a "lost our lease" sale on store inventory.